


Sorry for the trouble, but…

by kirogaraii



Series: A Bitter Sweet World : ShuuKazu [16]
Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Developing Friendships, Drama, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Narcolepsy, Other, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Plot, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirogaraii/pseuds/kirogaraii
Summary: In which Hitori has a very, very eventful day, in the start of summer break.
Relationships: Nanaki Kazuaki & Uzune Hitori, Nanaki Kazuaki/Uzune Hitori, Nishikikouji Tohri & Uzune Hitori, Nishikikouji Tohri/Uzune Hitori
Series: A Bitter Sweet World : ShuuKazu [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623460
Kudos: 4





	Sorry for the trouble, but…

It was an unusually cloudy, but nonetheless dry day. The start of summer break. A reason to rejoice for all young birds, but once you reach a certain age, you lose the joy associated with summer holidays as you realize that you still have pretty much just as much work to do as before.

Especially if you’re a teacher. Your life doesn’t change much. Sure, you won’t see your students in class for a few weeks, but holidays are actually exactly when the most action happens in regards to moving things, rebuilding things, fixing things, closing up doors and opening new ones…

in St. Pigeonation’s Institute

An uncomfortable atmosphere weighed on the two quails. As always, despite their interpersonal conflict, they had no choice but to work shoulder to shoulder the next day at the school. It has been around two weeks since their argument, and they have not spoken a word.

There were moments where one of them almost opened his mouth and started smalltalk with the other, but every time he would catch himself and continue to be quiet, before a word could be spoken. And as such came a world of breathing. And awkward grunting from carrying boxes upon boxes of equipment from one room to another.

_The headmaster is probably chilling in his office while all the teachers are out here carrying boxes, huh? That jerk…_

Kazuaki thought very spitefully while cuffing his sleeves, preparing to pick up yet another boring brown box of books.

“I wonder why we’re expected to do manual labor.”

Spoke Hitori out of nowhere. Kazuaki looked his way. “Doesn’t St. Pigeonation’s have enough money to afford someone else to do that job? I thought the motto of this employment system is ‘we will hire any kind of bird as a teacher, regardless of health, quirks, and personality, as long as they do their teaching job prestigiously’… Nothing about durability and refurnishing the school… Such a bother…”

“Huh, I was thinking the exact same thing too.”

The halls outside were busy with all other kinds of faculty members dragging along equipment. Boisterous conversations began to rise as the hours dragged on, and it was now midday.

“There is nobody like that employed here, but I wonder if Mr. Ichijou would’ve ordered a bird in a wheelchair, or something, to carry equipment too.” said Hitori, looking over the pile of boxes.

“Well, there’s Iwamine…” Kazuaki pointed out. He frowned afterwards.

“Huh, right. I wonder where he is?”

A third voice chimed in—“Probably took a day off with his big scary doctor privilege.”

it was a black and white dove.

“God damn, Iwamine. I still can’t believe that him being a doctor is the only reason why he gets away with so many things. Even the sports festival! He’s the infirmary doctor, yet he completely abandoned the infirmary tent!” it was a light—with brown feathers replacing the usual blue—rock dove.

With his vulgar speech and impolite workplace behavior, he was equally as unpopular as Iwamine, but the association with the doctor seemed to only anger him even more. The gym teacher for the third-years.

In a mumble, he added “I’m starting to think that he blows the headmaster after work to get those free passes…”

Everyone in the room collectively made a displeased expression at the brown rock dove.

“…Huh? Wait, no, I’m not trying to offend anybody. He could be paying Mr. Ichijou too. That’s more likely, isn’t it? Come on, stop glaring at me!”

In that moment, a small chickadee entered the room, saving the conversation from escalating.

“Otsukaresamaaaa.” he announced, eyes landing on Hitori, “Ah, professor Uzune! Good day to you!”

“Good afternoon!” Hitori politely greeted the bird back. From one math professor to the other!

“How are you holding up?” The chickadee math professor continued while looking for something in his office cabinet.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

The room appeared to become fuller and busier. Hitori gave Kazuaki a certain look, before bending down to stack two boxes on top of each other. He whispered, “Let’s go somewhere else, I’m pretty sure there is another stack of boxes in this and that room…”

Kazuaki blinked, surprised that Hitori wanted to spend time with him. “Oh, oh okay. Let’s do that…!”

Having blended into the confusion, the two quails snuck out of the room carrying equipment, and were on their way upstairs. That’s where the classrooms for the second-years reside.

It was seriously busy today. There was at least one person in every hallway, doing whatever.

“They’re trying to open that whole new school wing by the time summer break is over.” commented Hitori, gazing outside the window as they walked.

“New wing? Oh you mean that… Diverse Bird Division, or something?”

“Yeah. I’d assume that they’d start with either one or two whole new classrooms. So there’ll be around 60 new students, and plenty of new teachers.” Hitori didn’t sound like he had any particular feelings on the matter. “It’s pretty great that St. Pigeonation’s Institute is finally opening up to birds of species other than doves, for students… isn’t it?”

Kazuaki grimaced from carrying the heavy boxes for longer than a few seconds, “Yeah, t-that’s cool I guess.”

Awkward…

Oh well…

Yet another teacher passed by them in the hall as Hitori and Kazuaki made their way to classroom 2-3. Hitori noticed that the shelves and cabinets in the back have been half-emptied. The old books were nowhere to be seen. Kazuaki placed his two heavy boxes on one of the student desks and limply shook his arms.

“Gaaah… So heavyy…” he complained again.

Hitori looked at him with a smile and suggested, “You need to replace all the old workbooks and dictionaries with new ones, right? I’m already done with class 3-1. Would you like me to help you?”

“Uuuh…” Kazuaki truthfully didn’t know how to feel or respond. The lazy part of him, though, really would’ve loved the help, “Yes, please…”

The two quails got to work. It wasn’t long before they were done with this room, and unlocked the door to 2-2 to do the same thing again. In just one and a half hours, they were done with three classrooms on the second floor. Only two more, and they could probably take a break to work on something else! But now they felt that it was time for a short break to drink and eat something. At least Kazuaki insisted for that to happen.

“Energy drinks on duty, huh?” Hitori gave Kazuaki a classic judgmental, but caring look. Surprisingly enough, the other only stuck his tongue out at him and then took a big sip from the shiny can.

“I brought something good to eat to make up for it!” said Kazuaki.

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

He took a lunch box out of his bag and opened it to reveal… amazingly enough… various kinds of sliced up fruit. Strawberries, mango, even grapes and kiwi. Impressed, Hitori let out a smug whistle, “Whew~ that’s pretty okay. It looks fresh, too.”

“Hehe~ well, the fruit all came in a bundle at the grocery store, so I didn’t have to pick out and weigh all of it myself… but I did cut it up!”

Kazuaki looked at it for a second, before realizing, “Wait, I… how am I gonna eat this…? I didn’t bring any chopsticks or anything! Just, with my hands? …Wings? ……Beak?”

“Can I have some?” Hitori asked sweetly. No matter how tense the strings between them were, Kazuaki wouldn’t possibly deny Hitori.

“Um, sure!”

Kazuaki held out the lunch box and carefully poured out the fruity contents onto Hitori’s stretched out hand. Promptly, Hitori threw his head back and tossed the fruit into his mouth.

Kazuaki Nanaki, in that moment, cursed himself for finding that sight alluring and sexy. It’s like Hitori is doing it to him on purpose!!!

“Thanks.”

“Ng…No problem.”

They sat on student chairs with their backs to the window and enjoyed the few minutes of peaceful snacktime. All the bending and carrying and stretching was tiring work, and as such… Hitori let out a yawn, covering his mouth with a hand.

“Oh, shouldn’t you go take a scheduled nap now, Hitori?”

“Mm no, it’s fine. It’s too early.” he said, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. “I think we can get those two rooms done and then… do something else, maybe.”

“If you say so…”

Without much trouble, Hitori and Kazuaki ate their lunches till the end and returned to manual labor. When they reached the final classroom, they realized that they will have to move the actual furniture around to get their work done. Hitori cuffed his sleeves for the job right away, while Kazuaki moaned and complained for the first few minutes.

Once they were almost done with the job, having moved and relocated some heavy cabinets and boards from the walls, and replaced the books, Hitori seemingly had to take a breather. Kazuaki looked at him from a few tables away, cautiously.

“…Hitori? Are you okay?”

Hitori shook his head awake, turning to Kazuaki. He pinched his cheek a few times with one hand, “Yeah yeah yeah.” he squinted at the window, “It’s gotten quite sunny out there, hasn’t it? It’s so warm now. Ahh, it kind of makes me sleepy.”

“Uuu… are you sure you don’t wanna take a break~?”

“Oh Kazuaki, you’d just take any opportunity to take a break.” he flashed a snarky grin at the other. Kazuaki still felt worried for his friend though.

Although rare, the caretaker dynamic is sometimes flipped between them.

The quails finally started to wrap up their work on this floor, and with relief, made their way to the staircase again. Both of them would prefer to do paperwork at this point… But alas, their plans were cut short when they met the chickadee teacher from before.

“Oh, Uzune and Nanaki! Are you two busy?” he asked.

“We just got done with uh… replenishing the workbooks and dictionaries for all the second-years.” Hitori answered in Kazuaki’s stead of course, “What’s up?”

“Ahh, see, it really pains me to ask you of a favor after you’ve worked here for so many hours already, but could you maybe please pack some things up in the storage room, into boxes, and then leave them in the hallway? It won’t be long! It’s just a few things… Mr. Ichijou dumped me with so many things to do today that I feel really overwhelmed!”

The quails looked at one another, unsure what to say to the proposition.

“With the two of you, it won’t take longer than 20 minutes, probably! I promise I’ll leave you alone then!” the tit added.

“Fine, we’ll do it.” agreed Hitori composedly. Kazuaki made a somewhat defeated expression while the chickadee teacher bowed in thanks.

“Thank you very much! Sorry for the trouble! I’ll make it up to you one day, Uzune!”

The chickadee handed them a short list before hopping away. He really must’ve been in a hurry. Kazuaki always found it a bit cute how traditionally small bird species walk normally by default, but when necessary, rather than run, they resort to hopping instead. Adorable!!!

Hitori stretched out his arms and cracked a shoulder before unlocking the door to the storage room and taking a gaze inside. Kazuaki flipped the light switch on, and they both looked into it in silence.

“…Well… alright, let’s come up with a plan,” Hitori turned to his taller friend, “You’ll take these flat cardboard box things and assemble them into boxes, while I take out all these things and place them in the hallway for easier maneuvering.”

“I… I have to assemble all the boxes myself!?!”

“No no, make… only four at first. I’ll join you afterwards.”

Hitori took the quest very seriously and dived into the small claustrophobic room, while Kazuaki sat on the floor and began messing with the corrugated cardboard. Good thing that he enjoys arts and crafts. This was a more fun activity than what they were doing just now.

Hitori on another hand took on the role of Domingo Santos and romantically wrestled his way with a needlessly heavy set of… hard to describe things. The things that the chickadee wrote down appeared to be things used for sports, so it made sense that they should be moved from the class storage room to the gym storage room.

“Why the hell are there _car tires_ in the storage room for class equipment…!?”

Hitori loudly expressed his disappointment, but funnily enough, his voice was mostly muted by all the things in the room. Kazuaki peeked in a little to see what the other was doing.

“Maybe… they’re using them for some kind of… prestigious live action math problem?”

“S-Should I be using car tires to teach my students geometry too? Is that what I should be doing?”

“I don’t know!! I’m sorry!”

After that promised 20 minutes, Hitori and Kazuaki were only mostly done with the job.

“He doesn’t expect us to pack a stack of car tires into a cardboard box and call it a day, does he?” Hitori rubbed his arms, as they ached from all the weight lifting.

“Is it a bad idea?”

“It’d be way more efficient to just roll them down the stairs and into the gym, I’d say.”

“Well then… yay! Less work for us to do!” Kazuaki rejoiced

“Hahahaaa!” Hitori sarcastically mimicked Kazuaki’s triumph, “Hooray! Now we gotta pack a fucking **telescope!!** ”

“T-Telescope!?” Kazuaki made a face of horror, “That’s what that huge thing is!?”

“But ayyy, who cares! I’m Uzune Hitori, and I’ll happily do everyone’s work for free! How about you, Kazuaki-kun? Hmm? Haha! Are you a people-pleasing and obedient king quail too?”

“A-A-A-Are you losing your mind Hitori!?! Your face is scary!!”

The two quails wrapped up their job soon enough and finished in perfectly 60 minutes.

Defeated, exhausted, and physically fatigued, they slowly made their way back, aiming for the staff room. Hitori, by all means, looked way more tired than Kazuaki. Which was fair, because it was essentially him who did most of the heavy lifting.

“Gaah! We’re gonna have such muscle cramps tomorrow!” whined Kazuaki as they slowly walked.

“…Yeah…” a slightly delayed answer came from Hitori.

“After all that, I think we deserve some kind of reward. Maybe we’ll get off work earlier? Oh, maybe I’ll buy a snack at the vending machine!”

“Mhm…”

“I could partake in some self indulgent and reckless online purchase… Ah, yes! A new event started this week! I could buy the new shiny opal card for my main in Bluebird Fantasy~!”

“Don’t get too overzealous with the rewards, you… still are…”

Hitori’s legs stopped moving.

“…work…”

In an instant, Hitori fell lifelessly to his knees, and collapsed on the floor.

“Ah! Ahh! Noo! Not now!!” Kazuaki panicked a little, glancing left and right, “Wait! Don’t fall asleep in a place like this, Hitoriiiii!”

he crouched down on the floor and began poking the other on the cheek repeatedly. That would usually wake him up from his micro-naps, but Hitori continued to sleep with a perfectly content expression.

“Hitori! Toritoritoritoritoritoritori! Wake up! The staff room is downstairs! You can nap there! Not on the floor~!!”

Courageously, Kazuaki wrapped his arms around Hitori’s back and tried to lift him up. It was staggering how impossible that was—his arms were weak as macaroni after the work they just did! Hitori wasn’t all that heavy, but even a laptop would be probably too heavy for Kazuaki now!

“Nooooo! It’s a heavy one! It’s a heavy nap! He’s gonna be asleep for like an hour! Waaah!” Emotionally, Kazuaki thought out loud. “But I can’t just leave him here…!”

He raised his voice and called out miserably;

“Heelp!!! Help me!!! Man down! Man down!!”

“What the?”

like an angel come to earth, Kazuaki heard a third voice. He turned around to see a tall beautiful figure.

“Nishikikouji-san!! Please help!!”

“What’s happening? What happened to him?” Tohri looked concerned but also a little disgusted.

“Hitori has narcolepsy!” Kazuaki explained, “He fell asleep out of nowhere, but I’m too weak to carry him to the staff room or infirmary! Please help, sir!”

“Narcolepsy? Huh, I see.”

Tohri looked down at the asleep figure and squinted. He recognized this guy. Especially when he was asleep like this.

Ahh, right. That day he got face to face with Iwamine Shuu… That’s when he saw him!

“Um, alright. I suppose it’s no problem if I just carry him there… I’m on my way to the infirmary, anyway~”

Tohri had carried a binder under his arm, which he now handed over to Kazuaki. Gracefully and completely effortlessly, he picked Hitori up as if he were a princess.

“Thank you very much, Nishikikouji-san!” Kazuaki got up and held the documents that he was handed with special care. Tohri gave him a polite smile, saying something like “No problem.”

“Waah… The two of us just got done carrying and moving a lot of heavy stuff, so that must’ve really exhausted him. I’m so cramped that I couldn’t even pick him up, sob!” Kazuaki told the story as they made their way downstairs.

“Ahh, I see. Well, I am usually carrying around heavy things anyway, so today’s work hasn’t been particularly touching to me.”

“What kind of things are you carrying?”

“Oh, you know~ I’m an artist! Easels, cans of paint, tools, batteries, springs, head locking rings, protective suits for electromagnetic radiation…”

“E-Electromagnetic radiation?”

“Are you awed? Hoho, in that case, I can’t wait to see your face when you actually see my art in action~!” Tohri beamed a positive energy that warmed Kazuaki’s heart in the strangest way.

“Ah, ah! I left something important in the staff room,” Kazuaki said while searching for something in his pocket, “Can you carry Hitori to the infirmary by yourself?”

“Well, certainly! I’m… already doing it, aren’t I?”

“Thank you again! Ahhh!”

Kazuaki fled to the staff room, leaving Tohri alone in the dimly lit hallway, carrying the still comatose Hitori in his arms.

  
  


* * *

“Ah! I dozed off, sorry Kaz—…”

Hitori woke up and immediately sat up. He found himself in a white infirmary bed. “Oh.”

Yuuya turned around the corner of the bed curtain with a smile, “You’re finally awake, professor!”

“Yeah, geez… how long was I asleep for…”

“Hmm, I think you were brought in about an hour ago.”

“A whole hour? Geez geez, that’s gonna mess up my sleep schedule again…!”

Yuuya frowned a little, “Right, you have very strict sleeping times. Did you forget to take a nap at the right time today?”

“N-No, I didn’t! I was definitely paying attention to the clock.” Hitori found his scarf on a cabinet next to the bed and started putting it on, “I guess… Maybe I overstrained myself…? It was very warm up there…”

“Maybe. Fatigue and temperature certainly could be triggers, professor.”

Yuuya was pretty familiarized with Hitori’s narcolepsy not only because he was the chairman of the infirmary, but because Hitori was his homeroom teacher and math professor. In those rare instances where Yuuya attended class, it was a rare, maybe once a week occurrence, that Hitori would ‘faint’ in class for just a few seconds or minutes.

“I fell asleep on the first floor. Man, I can’t believe I made Kazuaki carry me over here, how troublesome…”

“Actually,” Yuuya shifted his weight to the other foot, “It was Nishikikouji Tohri who brought you into the infirmary.”

“Nishikikouji? Isn’t that the… the golden pheasant? Who runs the art club once a week?” Hitori was surprised, “Gosh, that’s unexpected. I’m gonna have to thank him the next time I see him.”

“It was admittedly a very romantic sight~ Nishikikouji-san was very gentle when he placed you down and took off your scarf~”

He could not tell if Yuuya was mocking him or genuinely found it ‘romantic’. Hitori squinted at his student judgmentally.

“But, he mentioned that he’s leaving the school grounds for today, so you’ll have to catch him another day if you want to say your thanks.”

“Ahh. Okay then…” the quail got off his bed and was ready to move on with the day, “Well, thank you for having me, Sakazaki-kun.”

Just as he was about to leave, Hitori turned around one more time to face Yuuya.

“Ah, wait, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“…Do you know where Iwamine is today?”

“Doctor Iwamine has taken a day off… Hm, again.” Yuuya made a pensive expression, “He’s been acting kind of unusual lately. Since around two weeks, now. He’s irritated all the time and clumsy. It’s like his head is in a different place.” he continued, tone becoming more analytical, “I’ve also observed that his experiments have gotten a bit more… how do I say this… brash?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you know, Iwamine is a pharmaceutical scientist, so he’s always working on drugs. Sometimes cures, sometimes poisons and acids. For a few months he had a streak of only working on research papers and prescribing helpful medicine, but…

There was this one time last week where he was walking around the school covered in blood. All he said to me is that he’s been experimenting with acids on feral birds, and was dissecting them that day to see what the effects on their insides were like.”

“That sounds… disgusting.” Hitori said fairly.

“Iwamine is not much of an artist at all, but I feel like the things he works on at least somewhat reflect his mood. So there’s a chance that… something happened that soiled his mood pretty badly.” Yuuya then lit up, “Well, let’s just hope that he doesn’t start killing people~! ☆”

“Y-Yeah, that certainly would be a problem.”

Hitori didn’t know what to think. If Yuuya’s theory is correct, then he felt obliged to check up on Shuu and see if he can help with anything. They weren’t necessarily close friends, but he was always a little curious about the doctor. He wondered what it could have been that made him so depressed out of nowhere.

“I see, well… Thanks again. See you later!”

“Adieu monsieur~!”

Yuuya waved his teacher goodbye, and the infirmary door slid shut.

The day moved on without much trouble, and eventually came to a peaceful end.

* * *

  
  
  


“Oh, hey. What’s up?”

Tohri was in the middle of applying chapstick when he was approached by Hitori. The other bird gestured apologetically and reminded him of a few days earlier.

“I just wanted to thank you for the trouble, ahaha. For bringing me to the infirmary.” Hitori scratched his neck, “It’s rare for me to fall asleep inconveniently like that, I don’t want you to assume that it happens all the time! It was just a bit of a weird day, I guess. I got a bruise from that fall, too.”

“Absolutely no problem, professor~”

“Ahahaha… I really feel like I owe you one.”

“Oh?”

Tohri raised his brows, and then, shifted into a more suave expression.

Uzune Hitori… he was a strange bird.

And at this point, Tohri had already learned several things about him.

The most valuable information being that has narcolepsy, is the most popular teacher in this school, and… that he has an unusual relation to Isa Souma.

He leaned against his desk, with an expression that said he just got quite an idea. A brilliant, genius idea.

“You’d like to do something for me in return?” asked Tohri relaxedly.

“Yeah. I hope I don’t sound like I’m overreacting.”

“Hmm. In that case… I think there is something you could do in return, for my generous gesture…”

“Oh, that was fast.”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Tohri twirled a long, orange lock around his finger, “It’s not a big thing, I mean, I think it’s a fair repayment for helping Nanaki Kazuaki and you back then.” he gestured at the quail with a finger, “Uzune Hitori!”

“Y-Yes?”

“It will be a beautifully artistic plan of action for the both of us…”

“My, my. You sure are vague, sir.” Hitori smiled nervously. This pheasant was very hard to read.

“You shall become…” Tohri drummed the air, “—my handsome subordinate!!!”

“Your- your what now?” _did he say ‘handsome’?_

“I will contact you in a few days! I know exactly what you can help me with, and it’s purely verbal!”

“Um, okay…” Hitori couldn’t help but look around to see if anyone else was seeing this. Much to his dismay, they were the only ones in the room. “I guess I’ll have to wait until then, right?”

“Yes! See you, farewell!” Tohri rose up from his chair and hastily the room with a leather bag in hand, “Oh, this is gonna be _greeeeat!!_ ”

“…B…Bye then?”

Hitori sometimes experienced scary, and sometimes nonsensical hallucinations when he was in a state of waking up or dozing off. His hallucinations would be more persistent and intrusive if he’d forget his meds, or fight off sleep for too much at a time. But what just now happened, he could not tell if it was real or not. Tohri seemed like a fairly good gentleman, from what he saw of him so far. Social, outgoing.

_It’s just his way of putting things that’s outlandish,_ he guessed. _Kind of like Iwamine._

He sighed, accepting that no matter what, he is always surrounded by enigmatic people. That’s just who he attracts. Dangerously codependent hikikomoris, dangerously depressed doctors, and… Wildly eccentric art teachers too, apparently.

Oh well?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, as always!!
> 
> I wonder if this fic flows nicely? Hitori is surprisingly fun to write! I had a lot of fun writing this, cause it’s a chapter that I’ve wanted to write since monthssss. There are a lot of ideas brewing up inside my mind, and I hope you enjoy this “breather” chapter before we go back to our regularly scheduled ShuuKazu and angst <33
> 
> I think a lot about Hitori with narcolepsy. Hitori, specifically, and not Nanaki. His attitude about it and his treatment of it is a lot different from the canon story, isn’t it?


End file.
